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Operation -- Annihilate!
| date = 2267 | stardate = 3287.2 | episode = TOS season 1x29 | production = 6149-29 | airdate = | story = | teleplay = | written = | director = | novelization = Operation—Annihilate! in Star Trek 2 by James Blish }} "Operation -- Annihilate!" was the 29th episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, the 29th episode of the show's first season, first aired on 13 April 1967. The episode was written by , directed by and novelized as Operation—Annihilate! in Star Trek 2 by James Blish. Summary ;Captain's log, stardate 3287.2. The USS Enterprise approaches Deneva. Captain Kirk is concerned; Uhura has been unable to contact any transmitter on the planet. Spock's research has revealed that a pattern of mass insanity has been spreading in a straight line through this part of the galaxy, and Deneva is next. Sulu picks up a ship on sensors. The small craft is on course directly for the Denevan star, and does not appear to be out of control. Kirk orders a warp 8 interception course. The ship is out of range of the tractor beam; the Enterprise pursues. Finally, they make contact: seconds before the ship burns up, the pilot cries out "I did it! It's finally gone! I'm free!!". Kirk forms a landing party consisting of him, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Yeoman Zahra and Bobby. Once on the planet, they are struck by the curious lack of people; in a city of 100,000 people, no one is visible – until, a few minutes later, they are attacked by four men who, even as they charge, scream "Go away! We don't want to hurt you!" But, with their crude clubs, they try anyway, forcing the landing party to stun them, an attitude inconsistent with their actions. Then McCoy discovers that the unconscious mens' nervous systems are violently active – as if they're somehow still being stimulated. A scream draws them next to Kirk's brother's lab. Captain Kirk's brother, Sam, lies dead on the floor. Aurelan, Sam's wife, is hysterical, and their child Peter is unconscious nearby. Evidence suggests something has been trying to force its way in, despite the fact that the sensors showed nothing on Deneva that didn't belong there. Aurelan, in terrible pain, tells Kirk that "things" came, eight months ago, on a ship from Ingraham B. As she tries to answer Kirk's questions, she experiences more and more pain, until McCoy is forced to sedate her. The creatures use the Denevans as their arms and legs, and are forcing them to build ships. They control their hosts with pain. Aurelan's last act is to implore Kirk not to let the things go any further; this effort costs her everything she has left, and she dies. Kirk rejoins the landing party; he knows there is some sort of creature present, but the landing party has not yet discovered anything beyond a curious buzzing. Entering a building where they heard this sound, the landing party discovers strange creatures. Looking like little more than loathsome blobs of jelly, they emit a bizarre buzzing noise, and employ a crude, wingless flight. A phaser at force 4 – sufficient to destroy most organisms – barely affects these creatures, even after several seconds of exposure. And the creatures do not register on Spock's tricorder. Kirk orders the landing party out of the infested area; as they leave, a creature strikes Spock, leaving a strange puncture wound. McCoy removes a small strand of tissue, and then, over Nurse Chapel's objections, he closes the wound. The creatures attack by stinging; they leave behind a piece of this tissue that rapidly infiltrates the victim's entire nervous system, far too completely for conventional surgery to remove it. Spock recovers consciousness, charges out of sickbay and storms the bridge. His goal: to take the ship out of orbit. Spock is ultimately overcome and returned to sickbay, where McCoy makes another grim discovery. The K3 indicator, a measure of pain, is very, very high. The reason for the madness is confirmed: victims are in such agony that their minds eventually break under the stress. Spock, recovering consciousness, now claims the ability to control the pain. But after his visit to the bridge, Kirk isn't sure. Spock, conquering the pain, breaks out of sickbay and plans to visit the planet's surface. Scotty, acting on Kirk's orders, refuses to transport him. A scuffle breaks out, and when Kirk appears, Spock explains that his plan is to retrieve a creature for study. He believes that since his nervous system is already infiltrated, there is little more the creatures can do to him. Kirk is convinced, and over McCoy's objections Spock beams down to collect a creature for study. Spock returns with a creature and begins to study it. Immediately, he realizes that the creature resembles, more than anything, an enormous brain cell. Kirk catches on immediately: these creatures aren't separate animals, they're all parts of a single entity, connected in some mysterious fashion. This is how it resists phaser fire: each part draws strength from the whole. McCoy's efforts to find some method to kill the creatures fail. Not heat, not radiation - nothing kills it. Kirk knows that if they can't find a way to kill these creatures, he will be forced to destroy Deneva to prevent their spread. A million people will die if nothing can be done. Kirk cannot let the creatures spread, and has no wish to kill the Denevans, including his nephew. He demands a third alternative. The key lies in exploring the properties of the sun. The Denevan was free of the creature moments before he died; something in the sun killed it. It's not radiation, it's not heat – could it be light? Kirk thinks it is. McCoy rigs a test cubicle, puts the sample creature inside, and confirms the theory: high intensity light is fatal to these creatures. Spock enters next; it's necessary to see what will happen to tissue that has infiltrated a victim. Spock volunteers to enter the cubicle. This test, too, succeeds: the blinding light frees Spock of the creature and the pain – at the cost of his eyesight. Spock, exiting the cubical, remarks that it is an equitable trade – the closest he comes to revealing how much pain he has been experiencing. And then the true tragedy is revealed: lab tests indicate that the creatures are vulnerable only to a specific subset of the light spectrum: ultraviolet light is its Achilles heel. McCoy is chagrined to realize that Spock need not have been blinded at all. Despite this, the answer is at hand. Kirk orders satellite control to deploy a formation of 210 ultraviolet satellites at 72 miles altitude, in a permanent orbit. The satellites are turned on; the creatures begin to fail, to fall, to smoke and to die. Ground stations on Deneva quickly make contact; the creatures are dying everywhere. Spock returns to the bridge; he can once again see. It seems that an inner eyelid, an hereditary trait of Vulcans, protected his eyes automatically. References Characters Episode characters :Robert Abrams • Clifford Brent (?) • Christine Chapel • Bill Hadley • Denevan neural parasites • • Kartan • Aurelan Kirk • George Samuel Kirk, Jr. • James T. Kirk • Peter Kirk • Ryan Leslie • Leonard McCoy • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Hikaru Sulu • Nyota Uhura • Vinci • Zahra Jamal • unnamed Denevans • [[unnamed USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel|unnamed USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel]] Novelization characters :Robert Abrams • Ames • Anhalt • Aurelan • Denevan neural parasites • • James T. Kirk • Leonard McCoy • Menen • Noban • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Hikaru Sulu • Nyota Uhura • Zahara God Starships and vehicles : ( heavy cruiser) Locations : (Deneva system, Fornax constellation, the galaxy's Beta Quadrant) Aldebaran Magnus V • Cygni Theta XII • Ingraham B • Orion Complex • Earth • Orion sector • Orion Nebula • New Orion Nebula • Levinius V Shipboard areas ;USS Enterprise : bridge • transporter room Planetary locales ;Deneva : Sam Kirk's home Races and cultures :Denevan • Human • Vulcan Technology and weapons :communicator • intercom • medical kit • medical tricorder • sensors • starship • viewscreen • transporter • tricorder Materials and substances :atmosphere • blood • gas • oxygen States and organizations :Federation • Starfleet • Starfleet Command Ranks and titles :captain • chief engineer • chief medical officer • commander • commanding officer • communications officer • doctor • engineer • Federation Starfleet ranks • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • first officer • lieutenant • lieutenant commander • helmsman • medical practitioner • navigator • officer • scientist • science officer • second officer • weapons officer Other references :anatomy • arm • arms control • beaming • Bones • boot • captain's log • [[captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), 2267|captain's log, USS Enterprise, 2267]] • cell • city • clothing • coordinates • disease • dolorimeter • Federation members • finger • five-year mission • germ • government • homeworld • hour • humanoid • jumpsuit • language • lifeform • log entry • logic • matter • microbe • microorganism • missile • nation-state • orbit • pants • phaser • planet • planet-wrecker • population • quadrant • races and cultures • rank • red alert • ship's log • [[ship's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|ship's log, USS Enterprise]] • space • star • star system • stardate • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (2260s) • technology • termite • title • tunic • uniform • universe • virus • Vulcan neck pinch • weapon Chronology ;years prior to 2267 : Ingraham B becomes infested. (prior to episode/novelization) ;stardate 3287, 2267 (2260s chronology, [[voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) (2264 to 2270)|2264–2270 Enterprise voyages]]) : Enterprise travels to Deneva. Appendices Related media * * ** Depicts the coordinates and maps of the Deneva system and homeworld. Novel adaptations blish2.jpg|Novelized in Star Trek 2. blish2reprint.jpg|Novelization in Star Trek 2 reprinted. blish2r.jpg|Novelization in Star Trek 2 reprinted. blish2corgi.jpg|Novelization in Star Trek 2 reprinted overseas. blish2corgiNEW.jpg|Novelization in Star Trek 2 reprinted overseas. strafplanet tantalus.jpg|German language translation of novelization in Strafplanet Tantalus. strafplanet Tantalus.jpg|Reprinted German language translation of novelization in Strafplanet Tantalus. reader2.jpg|Novelization collected in The Star Trek Reader II. der große Sammelband.jpg|German language novelization translation collected in Der große Sammelband. classicEpisodes1.jpg|Novelization collected in The Classic Episodes 1. classicEpisodes.jpg|Novelization collected The Classic Episodes. Video releases tos collector vhs.jpg|Collector's edition VHS release with " ". Background * There was no reference to James T. Kirk's family in the novelized version of this episode, Operation—Annihilate in Star Trek 2 by James Blish. In the novelized version, it was magnetism, not light which killed the parasites. In the episode, Spock was the first to try the cure for the parasites, in the novelization, Kartan was first cured. Additionally, the book has the travels to the home planet of the "mother" parasite and destroys that entire world, while it was the episode that involved satellites and ultra-violet light. Images denevan sun.jpg| zahra.jpg| denevan starship.jpg| deneva-r.jpg| tOS neural parasite.jpg| george Samuel Kirk Jr..jpg| peter Kirk.jpg| jtk Blish2.jpg|Kirk. spock Blish2.jpg|Spock. blish2planet.jpg|Alien planet. ent1701 Blish2a corgi.jpg|''Enterprise''. crew blish2 corgi.jpg|The crew. strafplanet Tantalus art.jpg|The crew. ent1701 Blish2corgi.jpg|''Enterprise''. ent1701VHScoll.jpg|The . crewVHScoll1.jpg|The crew. crewVHScoll2.jpg|The crew. Connections Timeline External links * * category:tOS episodes category:tOS season 1